The skills that help employees adapt: Empirical validation of a four-category framework

Abstract

Globalization, technological advances, economic and geopolitical shocks, pandemics, and any number of novel or unanticipated events have one thing in common: they represent change and require dynamic responses and adaptation from organizations, teams, and individuals. A critical resource for individuals to be adaptive are broad skills relevant to varied organizational conditions. These adaptive skills have been discussed in diverse venues but rarely in the organizational literature. Also, most, if not all, of extant conceptual frameworks related to adaptive skills remain unvalidated. The purpose of this research was to organize these skills, define and situate them in the relevant organizational and psychological literatures, and empirically test a proposed four-category framework. The experimental results supported the C+MAC framework, as skills were better categorized in terms of their theoretically related category. Additionally, the four-category framework proved a better fit to the skills compared to an influential, alternative model. The findings’ implications are discussed, noting how an empirically validated framework can facilitate understanding of how individuals engage with organizational environments and organizations get their work done.

Crucial workforce skills necessary for efficient performance of multicultural teams in Industry 5.0. - the results of an in-depth group interview with managers from selected European countries

“…Workforce skills and the changing requirements in this area have been of interest to researchers investigating different aspects of management for years (Acemoglu & Restrepo, 2018, Adepoju, Aigbavboa, 2021, Albrecht et al, 2020, Ernst, Merola, Samaan, 2019, Frey, Osborne, 2017, Güğerçin,, Güğerçin, 2021, Khemiss, Taher, 2021, Martin, Healy, 2009, Olejniczak, Miszczynski, Itohisa, 2020, Ybarra, 2023. This issue is not only vitally important, but, in the author's opinion, extremely timely from the perspective of changes and challenges linked with the transition from Era 4.0 to Era 5.0 (Carayannis, Morawska-Jancelewicz, 2022, Demir, Cicibas, 2017, Morrar, Arman, Mousa, 2017, Pereira, Lima, Charrua-Santos, 2020, Saniuk, Grabowska, Straka, 2022, Xu et al, 2021, Ellitan, L. 2020.…”